DE 195 13 809 C1 provides example showing a gearshift lever for an automatic transmission in a motor vehicle, which has a locking bar guided axially movably at the gearshift lever and has manually movable means for actuating the locking bar relative to the gearshift lever. The means is arranged in a shift knob at the top end of the gearshift lever. The means for axially moving the locking bar comprises a toothed rack arranged at the locking bar and a toothed segment. The toothed segment engages the teeth of the toothed rack and is mounted pivotably in the shift knob and can be pivoted by pressing with a finger against a stopper guided linearly movably in the shift knob against the spring action of the locking bar in an angle range limited by stops.
Furthermore, DE 198 29 173 A1 shows a gearshift lever with a locking bar for an automatic transmission in a motor vehicle, which comprises a knob arranged at the top end of the gearshift lever, a locking bar guided axially at the gearshift lever and manually movable means for actuating the locking bar relative to the gearshift lever, wherein two of the means have sets of teeth engaging each other, and these means are arranged such that an approach of at least one of the means to the locking bar induces an axial movement of the locking bar. At least one of the set of teeth extends along a curve, and the effective force transmission by a first of the curve radii is greater than the force transmission of the second radius.
DE 199 50 638 A1 also shows a shifting device with a gearshift lever for an automatic transmission of a motor vehicle, which has a release mechanism for releasing the gearshift lever with a manual actuating element, wherein the gearshift lever is movable in at least one shift gate between at least two different shift positions and can be locked in these shift positions at least partially depending on different vehicle configurations. An elastic force transmission element is provided between the manual actuating element and the release mechanism.
The drawback of the shifting devices and gearshift levers known from the above-mentioned documents is especially that the initial linear forces needed for actuating the locking bar are relatively strong, so that very strong forces must be applied with the thumb at the beginning to actuate the shifting device. This results in a feeling of sticking while shifting, and the forces involved in the shifting are physiologically unfavorable.
A tilting movement of the operating shifter is likewise disadvantageous, because even though the force to be applied is reduced, the clearance of the operating shifter is nevertheless felt to be unpleasant.
Another drawback is that the shifting mechanisms described are complicated and consequently expensive to manufacture.